vodka, good times, urban tales, insomnia

That Seventies Style

Bette Davis and Joan Crawford in Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?

They say that the biggest makeup sin that women commit is that they wear the same makeup from their heyday and that they should move with the times. I don’t know about that, I still feel pretty in my Bonne Bell lipsmacker and however women like to put their slap on is alright by me. The same must be true about decorating style. Last week, Diana at Flohaus asked me to write a piece for her blog about my decorating style. She actually came over to de-clutter so we could figure out what it was. Once she cleared away all the boxes of tea and Italian Wedding Soup (don’t ask), we figured I was a seventies child through and through. 5 years ago, when I decorated, I ordered wallcovering from Germany, googling up “seventies wallpaper” and got to choose from some really groovy prints. I chose a geometric print in sickly green colour. That’s the thing about the seventies, everything seems so purposefully hideous, the colours are either too vibrant (orange, yellow) and they are offset by a colour range that only the human body could produce: puke green and lots of brown. The wood is veneer, the leather is “Corinthian”, and the fabrics are Dacron, it’s hard to go antiquing and actually justify buying this stuff when you know that the local Legion is decorated in this inflammable style. But I love it! I don’t think I went overboard in my love of the seventies (by the way, see my blog header, designed by Indigo Dawn: she actually used Partridge Family font!), I used the wallpaper as an accent. Also a splash of orange on the kitchen counter. And a shag rug carpet inlay, that I regret, and that Betty (aka. The Urinator) thinks is grass. I am dazzled by the decor at Lady Marmalade on Queen Street, west of Logan:

It’s complete seventies in all mismatched tables and chairs. The bathroom is great too. They’ve got some retro wallpaper and some really cute woodland animal art. The best part is the food, which is breakfast and lunch cuisine with a bit of Mexican flavour. I always order a clubhouse, it’s my thing, and theirs has avocado, along with the bacon and chicken. Avocado and bacon make one of the best food combos in my opinion. Never let your bacon go grey in the fridge or your avocados to rot on the counter, mix them together and spread on toast! The quirky part of Lady Marmalade is they only accept cash but maybe that’s part seventies concept when only business men had Diner’s Club cards. Those were the days, my friend. They also don’t have a liquor license which is okay too. A lemonade at lunch is very retro.